Now Bromwich will hold public meetings on offshore drilling safety

Michael R. Bromwich, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEM), announced today that he will be leading a series of public meetings to collect information and views about deepwater drilling safety reforms, blowout containment, and oil spill response.

Mr. Bromwich will be soliciting input from the general public, state and local leaders, and experts from academia, the environmental community, and the oil and gas industry.

"Because we're interested in getting input from a variety of sources, we plan to hold the meetings in seven states Ð Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas," Bromwich said. "We're working on finalizing the planning for these meetings, including the specific locations and dates, and will have another announcement with those details very soon."

Meetings are currently being scheduled to occur in August in the following cities: New Orleans and Lafayette, La, Mobile, Alabama Pensacola, Fla., Santa Barbara, Calif, and Anchorage, Alaska. Meetings will be held in early September in the following Biloxi, Miss. and Houston, Texas.

The meeting format planned is one that will allow representatives from academia, industry, and environmental organizations to serve as panel members to provide testimony, combined with the opportunity for audience members to provide public comment during the meeting.

Additionally, the public will be able to submit comments in person at the meetings, online, and by mail.